The introduction of xe2x80x9cfull electronicxe2x80x9d circular knitting machines with differentiated diameters has attracted the knitting industry""s interest since their versatility allows to produce a wide range of tubular items, such as for instance bras, brassieres, pants, dresses, trousers, xe2x80x9cfuseauxxe2x80x9d (tight trousers), skirts, teddies, swimsuits, technical items and more. But due to some inherent technical and textile limitations, such as for instance the lack of shoulder straps, belts, loops, strings, ribbons and various openings, most of the aforementioned knitwear items systematically require laborious and expensive additional finishing operations such as cutting and sewing, with the subsequent fabric scraps which affect production costs extensively and permanently. As is generally known, Italian patent no. 1288310 provides for various embodiments concerning the production of shoulder straps, loops or braces, or various openings for legs and arms; these solutions, however, show technical difficulties and additional costs due to the complex mechanisms involving fabric pick-up and transport from one side of the needle cylinder to the other side.
The present invention aims at reducing to a significant extent or at wholly eliminating the aforesaid technical and productive limitations, so as to automatically obtain semi-finished or finished tubular knitwear items, preferably provided with shoulder straps, loops, fabric stripes, buttonholes and various openings, also with floating yarns, with original productive, technical, aesthetic and commercial purposes. All this stated, a main aim of the present invention consists in providing a method and apparatus for producing tubular items, also shaped or fitted, provided with one or more holes or openings, also quite wide, said items being automatically produced by the suitable selection and presence of the elements directly or indirectly involved in the knitting process, such as for instance jacks, needles, under-needles and fabric sinkers. An additional aim consists in providing a method and apparatus for producing said tubular items provided with at least a fabric half-ring, preferably introduced into one or more holes of said item or used for the aesthetic or functional connection or weaving with a separate item. Another aim consists in providing a method and apparatus for producing items provided with one or more loops or fabric stripes, which are connected to the knitted tube only on their ends, also with their floating yarns only, being automatically produced by the suitable presence or absence of needles. A further aim consists in providing said tubular items with one or more zones without fabric, said zone being automatically produced by the suitable selection of the elements directly or indirectly involved in the knitting process, and being covered with floating yarns. An additional aim consists in producing said tubular items provided with one or more openings or holes characterized by a plurality of floating yarns. Further aims will be evident from the description, examples and accompanying drawings, per se or in combination, beyond the final claims.
The above mentioned aims are substantially achieved by a method for producing tubular knitwear items by discharging and taking up single stitches following a given pattern, also with needle discard and floating yarns, and products obtained thereby, according to the appended claims. The characteristics of the invention and the advantages resulting therefrom will be more evident from the following description of embodiments provided by way of example, which can be advantageously applied to the majority of knitting machines.